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Lawmaker's Facebook Rant Threatens Media For "Unauthorized" Use of His Name 136

An anonymous reader points out that Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter may be in need of a First Amendment lesson. "Apparently, a local Maryland politician ditched his civics class the day press freedoms were discussed. How else to explain Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter's recent Facebook rant in which he threatened a local newspaper with litigation because—wait for it—his name was used in print without his permission. 'Use my name again unauthorized and you'll be paying for an Attorney. Your rights stop where mine start,' Kirby Delauter, the councilman, posted on his Facebook page. He added: 'So let me be clear.........do not contact me and do not use my name or reference me in an authorized form in the future.'"
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Lawmaker's Facebook Rant Threatens Media For "Unauthorized" Use of His Name

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:00PM (#48757929)

    I didn't catch his name. What was it again?

  • by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:01PM (#48757941) Journal

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... [wikipedia.org]

    That is all

  • I mean after all, did Slashdot get his permission to use his name in print? ... Oh, wait, there's that whole little first amendment thing. Hope the EFF can step in to help remind the kind councilman...
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:05PM (#48757985) Journal
    This guy Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter does not seem to understand the basic first amendment. How else can we explain Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter threatening to sue a newspaper for calling him Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter? He is Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter right? How else can the newspaper refer to Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter?

    BTW Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter is prohibited from using my name without my express written consent. If he wants to sue me, Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter has to first contact me and get my permission to use my name to file the suit is a court. How about that Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter, he should follow what he preaches, right? By "he' I mean Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:36PM (#48758411)

      I live in Frederick Co. and these news outfits should really dig more deeply. There's a whole lot more to Kirby Delauter than just this one outburst. He's part of a group of disaffected commissioners angry at not getting his way when the county government moved from home rule to charter form.

      As I recall, Kirby has also:
      1. Ignored an Ethics commission ruling that barred his construction company from doing work for the county.
      2. Violated MD's Open Meetings law (possibly on more than one occasion).
      3. Voted for 25yr contracts for developers to give them land development rights without the developers putting any money into adequate roads, schools, etc. ...and more.. way way more..

      His recent anger was sparked in part because in the previous form of county government, 3 top level republicans managed to have a solidified voting block for whatever they wanted. One of those 3 (Blaine Young) was voted out in the past election. Just prior to Blaine's departure Blaine resigned from his spot on the planning commission and then was placed back onto the planning commission by vote of the commissioners. This was thought to be something that couldn't be stopped; however, the MD AG stated that Blaine had not resigned his position as commissioner (only his position on the planning commission) as as such he couldn't be placed back onto the commission as he was ineligible. Since Blaine had close to 1M in developer dollars to (probably) pay back in favors, it's likely this angered the republican constituency very much.

      When the form of government moved to the charter form, it was assumed by the republicans that Shreve would take the president spot but the democrats did something the republicans appeared to not expect, they voted for a much more moderate republican to be president of the county commissioners.

      Angered by this slight to his long-time republican cohort (Shreve), Delauter has been rather angry of late.

      Shreve and Delauter blame the FNP (Frederick News Post) for having a very liberal bias that cost Blaine his position and Shreve the presidency of the commission. As such, the outburst was primed to happen.

      So yeah, welcome to our local politics. If our local sheriff weren't such an utter useless waste of skin then perhaps we'd get an investigation into possible wrongdoing with regards to violations of law but "Chuckles" is a worthless bag of skin that feels much more at home teaching his deputies how to choke to death mentally impaired people.

      (That's a whole different story... another one in which it appears the prosecutor only provided evidence to a grand jury (evidence provided by the sheriff's office about sheriff's deputies) that was likely to exonerate deputies instead of any that was inculpatory as well.)

      I like living here.. but in a lot of ways this county sucks. If I wasn't painfully aware that no place is perfect, I'd sell my house and move.

      • Haha, ya, democracy as an experiment is very goofy. I suspect you will find similar soap operas and comedies in most every county of the country in recent history.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @04:51PM (#48759287)

        Also a resident here, echoing what you've said (Otis is president of the county "council" not commissioners).

        Another item of detail I seem to recall, is at least one of those DRRA's - sweetheart giveaways to the suburban neighborhood developers - is being built on top of farmland which is part of a watershed where development is strongly discouraged due to pollution and runoff concerns for the Frederick City's watershed. The previous county commissioner administration showed a completely shameless lack of concern for environmental sustainability.

        In addition, they voted "Maintenance of Effort" level funding, meaning the $$ never changed, for the Frederick County Public Schools all 4 years in office. No raises for the teachers, cut personnel to keep the lights on, etc.

        From what I recall it was a party of "4 stooges" who ran together like a platform, and 1 dissenting (Republican) named David Gray who constantly challenged the others' votes but was obviously outnumbered. He ran against Blaine Young in the Republican primary for County Executive but lost. I guess you could consider him a more "old guard" style of republican.

        The four "stooges" included Blaine Young, Kirby Delauter, Billy Shreve and Paul Smith. The lone dissenting voice was David Gray.

        Later on around election time I saw an article from one of Kirby's daughters, Emily Delauter, on the FNP talking about how his father "highly values" education. Yeah, right. http://www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/letter_to_editor/delauter-always-valued-education/article_8bb824ac-5512-538e-a4f7-cb171bde638f.html

        And I was quite relieved when I found Jan Gardner [D] was voted in for County Executive. I can't fathom the nightmarish politics this county would face with 4 more years of Blaine and friends.

      • Fascinating, thanks for posting that.

      • by idontgno ( 624372 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @05:50PM (#48759827) Journal

        I hear that he almost certainly did not murder a hooker in Las Vegas in '02.

        I mean, I can't be certain. I have no first-hand knowledge. But I'll certainly concede, and strongly support even, that Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter almost certainly never murdered a hooker in Las Vegas in 2002.

        I'm virtually sure of it.

      • Anonymous,

        I live in Frederick County too, I agree with everything you just posted 100%.

        I wish Billy and Shreve were gone, but I'm glad that Blaine Young got the non-starter award from the MD Atty General.

    • The newspaper in question beat you to the punch. They published an editorial over the whole ordeal [fredericknewspost.com], appropriately titled, "Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter". The first letter of each paragraph in the editorial can even be put together to spell out his name.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      We would like to apologize for the unauthorized use of Fredrick County Councilman Kirby Delauter's name in the previous comment. It was in error. The persons responsible have been sacked. We hope that no future unauthorized uses of Fredrick County Councilman Kirby Delauter's name will occur.

    • by Toad-san ( 64810 )

      I fully agree. You can tell Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter, "Bite me, Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter!"

      Toad, NOT Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter Toad

    • by Krishnoid ( 984597 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @04:49PM (#48759273) Journal

      How else can we explain Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter threatening to sue a newspaper for calling him Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter?

      You're right -- he's pretty much FCCKD however you describe it.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:05PM (#48757995)

    I already wrote saying not to print my name. Prepare for my lawyer's wrath. Posted as a Anonymous Coward for obvious reasons...

    - Kirby

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Stop using your name or I will sue on your behalf!

      - Anonymous Coward

  • by Wild_dog! ( 98536 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:05PM (#48758001)

    Perhaps he might think of a better way to spend his time if he thinks nobody should publish his name.
    How are the people to know what government officials are doing/saying/thinking if a newspaper or anyone else can't attach a name to a piece about them?

    • by Anonymous Coward

      How are the people to know what government officials are doing/saying/thinking if a newspaper or anyone else can't attach a name to a piece about them?

      Likewise, how are we supposed to know who our government officials are without being able to print names?

      Actually, maybe that is not a bad thing...

      "Sorry sir, authorized personal only."
      "Oh, but I am authorized, I'm a government official who works here."
      "Name?"
      "Kirby Delauter."
      "That name is not on the list."

  • This is just the logical extension of believing in "intellectual property" or any other fallacy where one person has a right to control someone else.

    • by Vermonter ( 2683811 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:12PM (#48758087)
      I don't think he was incorrect that "their rights stopped where his started", I think he just doesn't realize where his rights actually start.
      • I frequently find it appalling how petty little idiots get elected and suddenly think they wield supreme power.

        Can you be so stupid as to believe you as an elected official get to prevent the news media from reporting on you? Sure, libel will get them in trouble ... but the epic arrogance and stupidity which seems to accompany this kind of attitude boggles the mind.

        That's getting into full fledged moron territory.

        But, then, I guess it's pretty common for elected officials to become supremely arrogant assho

  • I hope Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter doesn't discover slashdot since the article uses his name (Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter). Ack, so does my post, see the previous sentence that has "Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter" in it. Argh!!!

    I think I'll call Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter and ask for permission to use his name.

    Ack, I did it again.

  • by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:13PM (#48758107)
    So the guy is an ill-informed twit, a product of a typical Maryland public education. That's fine, because he's just a typical local guy who got a few dozen more votes than the next guy, and got a job as a minor league politician on a local county council.

    But the problem is that we're seeing this sort of attitude (manifesting itself a bit differently) from the very top of the nation's executive branch. Lip service to promised "transparency," but in practice, draconian limitations on non-spin-approved access by journalists and photographers, reporters (and their entire organizations) being tapped and harassed if they don't convey the right message. Politicians have always had their favorite media contacts, but the ever-receding notion that they work for us is resulting in newly toxic levels of entitlement-itis and a sort of vaguely imperial bearing. That some elected officials have flirted with that from day one of the republic is not news, but the founders anticipated that and built in checks and balances. And some of those have been sorely tested, of late.

    It will be interesting to see how the Attkisson suit plays out.
  • Kirby Delauter (Score:4, Insightful)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:13PM (#48758109) Journal

    To be a valid streisand effect, the name of this article should have been "Kirby Delauter's Facebook Rant Threatens Media For 'Unauthorized' Use of His Name". Just sayin'.

    • Don't worry, by the time it goes viral it will. :-P

      This man will be remembered as a first class fool.

  • by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:14PM (#48758117)

    Why is some local county councilman being stupid news?
    Do get elected to such a position you have to get what? About 100 people to vote for you? Even less depending on the county. lol

    The funniest part was left out of the summary... the following day the papers lead article was titled:

    "Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delaute"

    http://m.fredericknewspost.com... [fredericknewspost.com]

    • Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)

      by hymie! ( 95907 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @04:06PM (#48758799)

      >Why is some local county councilman being stupid news?

      Not sure if you're being rhetorical, but there's an answer.

      In Maryland, the county is the primary local government. There is one "independent city" (Baltimore), and a small number of "incorporated cities" that have a limited amount of "home rule", primarily zoning.

      States like New York and New Jersey, you have the State, the County, the Town, and the Village, all providing different levels of services and different levels of government.

      In Maryland, you have the State and the County.

    • by afidel ( 530433 )

      D[sic]o get elected to such a position you have to get what? About 100 people to vote for you? Even less depending on the county. lol

      8,730(page 70) [frederickcountymd.gov] which was 54.72% of the voters, and he was unapposed!

      • Who did the others vote for, "none of the above"?

        • by afidel ( 530433 )

          Yes, I assume they failed to register a vote in that section of the ballot. Heck, I've done that many times, including the elections for county executive because the Democratic candidates have been corrupt machine picks and the Republicans have been wackos. I also did that on most judicial candidates before a local collection of editors-in-chiefs and the bar association started a non-partial judicial candidate review site. I would argue that it's often our civic duty to do so either to show a dissatisfactio

          • Ya, I'd like to see a non-partial review. Instead people point me to highly partisan sites to give their roundup.

    • by sconeu ( 64226 )

      I was going to post that link.
      .
      In addition, it's an acrostic, where the first letter of each paragraph spells out his name.

  • by DumbSwede ( 521261 ) <slashdotbin@hotmail.com> on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:17PM (#48758153) Homepage Journal

    Most stories omit his party affiliation.
    So pleased to see he is keeping up the (new) Republican tradition of being bat-shit insane.

    • by anagama ( 611277 )

      It's great to poke fun, but you do know that the DNC of today makes the GOP of Nixon's day look like pinko commies?

      With the DNC, you get way more war, way more surveillance, way more militarization of the police, and, Nixon's own healthcare plan (with the liberal parts stripped out).

      So you New-GOPers (aka Democrats), go ahead and tease the Old-GOP (aka Parody of Itself). Feel all superior.

      • The DNC does not make any governing policy and does not do any surveillance and is not associated with any police force. You are factually incorrect.
        • by anagama ( 611277 )

          Yeah, the whole last 8 years of war, drone bombings, NSA programs, plus NixonCare aka ObamaCare, have absolutely noting to do with the DNC at all. It was all the GOP's fault.

          Christ, you could have incontrovertible proof of the DNC eating babies live, and you fucks would blame the GOP.

      • by jbwolfe ( 241413 )
        After reading your post, I was unsure whether you hate R's or D's. So I look at your sig and do some brief investigating and find that you hate both- fair enough. But keep in mind the "political realities". That change always faces opposition, and rate of change is determined by the degree of opposition. Why anyone votes Republican (other that the ruling plutocracy) is still a mystery to me, but one cannot expect the "political realities" to be overcome in an instant. And the R's have resumed control of con
        • by anagama ( 611277 )

          The political reality is that the continued rightward shift of the DNC, has left liberals without any representation. Yeah, I always vote 3d party as a protest, and I understand that my views will not be represented in my lifetime, but what totally fucking galls me, is that DNC party members whose policies would make Nixon blush, have the temerity to call themselves liberals. Add to that the people who are liberal at heart, yet still vote for DNC candidates based solely on nostalgia for what the party onc

    • Most stories omit his party affiliation.
      So pleased to see he is keeping up the (new) Republican tradition of being bat-shit insane.

      There's only 1 party in this country that's allowed to run for office, so I don't see what the point of mentioning which wing of that party he belonged to.

    • Most stories omit his party affiliation.

      But if you knew ANYTHING about Maryland politics, you would know that the state has generally been a Democratic monoculture, with their party promoting and enacting and deficit-spending on the most ridiculous, corrupt, crazy crap imaginable. Even the predominantly Dem population of the state finally had enough of their own party's serial insanity, and voted in a shiny new Republican governor. Specifically because of things like counter-constitutional executive overreach and spectacular incompetence by the

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        You are the problem with American politics. All of them, the pseudo religious, the pseudo left and pseudo conservatives, have the same thing in common. They jump into any organisation or group not for the goals of the group but to achieve their own personal goals and only exploit that group to achieve them. They are neither religious nor left nor conservative, they are self serving egoists. Until you focus on the individuals and their actual individual behaviour and drop the silly main stream media created

        • Until you focus on the individuals and their actual individual behaviour and drop the silly main stream media created party politics thing, you will achieve nothing.

          That's the problem in the case I mentioned. A single party monoculture, run, effectively, by a handful of entrenched, corrupt individuals, has been preventing - through gerrymandering, union-backed vote blocking, etc - any given individual from within their own party or any other from in any way changing the status quo. That finally became so toxic and so transparent, that many in that part turned against the person their party's governor told them should be the next executive, and voted instead for an unl

    • Alright, noted. *grumble, grumble* With the country largely split down the middle into a two party system, you will find plenty of loons in both parties. There are other conservative-leaning individuals who know that the solution to undesirable speech is not censorship, but rather more speech. Read Mark Steyn on this any day of the week, or as quoted in the newspaper article, Eugene Volokh.
  • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:19PM (#48758175)

    They ran an editorial about it:

    he who shall be named repeatedly [fredericknewspost.com]

  • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:20PM (#48758201)
    party the good Kirby Delauter is from.......

    Which brings me to....

    When Kirby Delauter's name is outlawed, only outlaws will have Kirby Delauters name.

  • Irony (Score:4, Funny)

    by Galaga88 ( 148206 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:28PM (#48758285)

    The real irony is that the article he's so upset about painted him as an emotionally unstable and clueless twit with a propensity for going on tirades and rants.

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @03:33PM (#48758365) Homepage
    Something nice stupid to go with the name "Delauter".

    I propose the act of eating vomit.

    As in "Oh my god, that dog just Delautered!"

    Or "Oh look, those baby birds are delautering, what caring mother bird."

  • I wonder if his name will take hold the way Streisand's did...

    delauter [urbandictionary.com]
    "The act committed when one person threatens to sue another for using the first person's name without authorization.
      Delautering is the next level and more general form of scientologying, which is suing or threatening to sue for calling Scientology bogus."

  • Bethany Rodgers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by tentative ( 3404075 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @04:00PM (#48758727)
    I particularly like how he calls the reported out by name - presumably unauthorized...
  • The councilman formerly known as Kirby Delauter
  • by euroq ( 1818100 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @04:22PM (#48758995)

    Is it wrong that I guessed that this guy was a conservative, and I was right?

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Is it wrong that I guessed that this guy was a conservative, and I was right?

      No, but your sense of smug self-satisfaction is a bit off-putting.

      • by H0p313ss ( 811249 ) on Wednesday January 07, 2015 @05:16PM (#48759535)

        Is it wrong that I guessed that this guy was a conservative, and I was right?

        No, but your sense of smug self-satisfaction is a bit off-putting.

        1. Given how bat-shit-insane the American right has become you might want to get used to those to the left being a little smug. But I guess it does suck to have become the political punchline of the western world.

        2. Never interrrupt the enemy when they're making a mistake.

    • I don't know if I'm left or right as defined by pop culture.

      But I'm still eagerly awaiting a coherent road-map to sustainability and enlightenment via the welfare state.

      Perhaps you can help?
  • Others...
    • Adultery Biker
    • A Bridle Turkey
    • Drab Turkey Lie
    • Bleak Dirty Rue

    Results courtesy of: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/a... [wordsmith.org]

  • ... Kirby Delauter was served cease and desist papers by a vacuum cleaner maker.

  • by Aryden ( 1872756 )
    It's Frederick... they just got the internets yesterday.
  • in discussion about him or his views ? I have a few suggestions, can you add some more: twat, stupid politician, brain-dead Maryland politician, moron with more money than sense, Voldemort (he who shall not be named), Muppet, Pillock, plonker, Wazzock, Berk, Maggot, arsehole, eejit, git, ....

    Maybe all media should now only refer to him by one of the names above - I wonder what he would say then ?

  • Kirby Delauter has failed his high school government final: List the protections provided by the First Amendment.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution [wikipedia.org]

  • I live in Frederick County, MD.

    I actively spread the word in the last election that they should by no means vote for Kirby Delauter. The only thing he cares about is the size of his bank account.
    He's proved himself a hot head over the last 4 years he was a county commissioner, and has in no way changed since we changed to a charter government and he was elected as a county councilman.

  • From earlier this afternoon:

    “My statement to the Frederick News-Post regarding the use of my name was wrong and inappropriate. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong,” Delauter says in the statement.
  • And is he concerned that 8,000 Marines may cause the island to tip over and.... capsiiiiiiiize?
  • You are a public servant. Your rights stop at your front door.

    Sincerely,

    The Public Who You SERVE.

  • I think he got something wrong about the relationship between polititics and journalism, at least in a free society.

  • He should have posted a Facebook privacy declaration in advance.
  • He cannot figure out when to use either authorized or unauthorized either. How do we elect these people?
  • ....but I am more afraid of all those who vote for idiots like Kirby DeLauter....Kirby? Kirby? Isn't that a vacuum cleaner brand? I guess technically we need to blame his parents for that.

Do you suffer painful hallucination? -- Don Juan, cited by Carlos Casteneda

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